April 22, 2001
CYBERCOLUMN:
Running wild
___By John Duncan
___I am sitting here under the old oak tree wondering about things running wild. According to the headline in local newspaper in our town, a man claiming to be notorious outlaw Jesse James showed up on the town square. The man wore shorts and appeared to reach for a gun. Six police officers subdued the man with pepper spray and their combined brute strength. Officers took him to the hospital for treatment. The mayhem, which occurred around 3:25 one morning, created quite a stir. For a brief period of time, emotions ran wild.
___The Brazos River runs through our town. The spring rains filled up the river, which feeds Lake Granbury. Fish run wild. Fishermen seem excited. Boaters have begun their lake cruises. Soon jet skiers will zig and zag across the lake. As I drove across the bridge near Wal-Mart the other day, I noticed the movement over the lake. The lake currents cruise along at brisk speeds. I guess you could say that the river up stream and the lake run wild.
John Duncan
___The rain showered my yard with spring blessings. The grass sang hallelujah. I cranked up my lawn mower and cut the grass. I fired up the string trimmer and chopped weeds. The rain set nature in motion, and the grass and weeds have run wild. Spring has run wild, and the wheels of nature spin the glory of spring into a dotted landscape of color and pizzazz!
___G.K. Chesterton once spoke of Christianity. He said, "And the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild."
___Jesus spoke of good things running wild—good news of God's kingdom; trees bearing good fruit; good gifts coming from the heavenly Father's hand; good men out of the abundance of their hearts producing good things; saints sowing good seeds that take root in good soil; a Good Shepherd laying down his life for the sheep; faithful and good servants who hear announcements of "well done!" Jesus longed for the good things to run wild.
___The Apostle Paul, too, yearned for the running wild of God's good things. He called them the fruit of the Spirit, fruit woven in the heart like vines woven around a barbed-wire fence while holding luscious grapes anxious to be plucked. Paul's vine exploded with good that abundantly overflows in the believer's life. It is also fruit that, once tasted by others, becomes sweet and delightful. What good fruit did Paul wish to see run wild among believers in the church? Paul craved for beauty to blossom and run wild like bluebonnets on a Texas roadside—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self control.
___Ah, spring—the season of resurrection excitement and bluebonnets blooming, the season when joy runs wild. Emotions run wild in spring. Rivers and lakes run wild. Weeds run wild in my yard. But more than any other thing, Chesterton puts our faith in Christ in its best possible terms: When Jesus blooms in the heart, his good things run wild. That's the good news for you today and, by the way, for Jesse James, wherever he is.
___John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines.
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